U.S troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2016

President Barack Obama yesterday announced that all American troops would leave Afghanistan within two years.

Obama said that by the end of this year, the number of troops stationed in Afghanistan will be reduced to under 10,000 from the current 32,000.

By the following year, he said that number would be halved and by 2016, only a vestigial force would remain to protect the American embassy in Kabul and to help facilitate Arghan weapons purchases and security matters.

Obama said that it was the time to free up resources from Afghanistan and Iraq in order to focus them on emergent terrorist threats.